I. Field of the Invention
The present invention is directed generally to bodies for refuse pick-up trucks, and more particularly, to an improved body incorporating a plurality of side loading compacting and ejecting containers for curb separated recyclables in combination with a compacting rear loading refuse collection and compacting container.
II. Description of the Related Art
Refuse pick-up trucks commonly include a truck chassis fitted with a body that is made by a manufacturer other than the manufacturer of the chassis. The truck body is specifically designed for receiving, compacting and discharging refuse materials. One very successful design of such custom-made truck bodies includes a refuse containing reservoir accessible for loading and discharge from the rear of the vehicle. This system includes an hydraulic compacting mechanism which repeatedly compacts the refuse after each loading, moves the refuse forward in the truck toward the front end, eventually filling the available volume. The forward wall against which the refuse is compacted also forms part of a cylinder-operated ejection mechanism which is provided and which moves aft to expel the contents of the refuse volume during ejection.
Typically, such systems include a single large volume for containing all the trash and refuse collected and no provision is made for separating any of it by type or to process curbside separated recyclable materials. Today, recycling of materials such as aluminum, glass, paper and other materials is becoming more and more important and, in certain jurisdictions, has or will soon become mandatory. In many places containers are provided for curbside separation and segregation of materials. However, in order for the hauler to pick up the curbside recyclable materials, additional trips must be made to the site utilizing separate vehicles designed to handle curbside collection of source separated recyclable materials.
In this regard, it would be quite advantageous if a single vehicle had the ability to collect normal refuse together with a plurality of predetermined categories of curbside separated recyclable materials during a single stop. Such a vehicle would certainly be a great help with regard to more efficient, lower cost management of solid waste including the recycling of separated materials, and recycling certainly appears to be the way of the future.